


Guided Tours For Kids

by traumschwinge



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Museums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traumschwinge/pseuds/traumschwinge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles works at a museum of natural history where he occasionally does the guided tours as well. He's especially found of the guided tours for children and teens they offer on weekends. Even though there sometimes are <i>those</i> children in the group that just have to try to get at him for using a hand puppet to assist him with the tour. Like the son of his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [issabella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/issabella/gifts).



> Most of this fic is either written to make Isi smile, mock her or is entirely her idea. ~~No I haven't forgiven you for the hand puppet demonstration/inspiration yet.~~

"I know how you’re doing it," some boy in the group of children he was leading through their Museum of Natural History declared. The silver-haired—silver of all possible colors what were his parents even thinking—boy pointed accusingly at the puppet on Charles arm. The puppet he was currently… The hand puppet he used to guide the children through the museum. There always was a kid like this boy, but for some reason Charles was more annoyed than usual at this brat. Okay, it could also be fueled by the annoyance coming off the boy’s sister in strong, angry waves.

"So, you know what lets people move?" Charles asked, his voice pitched a tad higher to make it sound like the voice of Greggy the puppet. His collegue Moira had named him, in honor of Gregor Mendel, back when the special exhibition had been about called "The Birth of Genetics" and the puppet was new. Even after the exhibition was gone, the name had stuck. And now, Greggy was guiding groups of children through the museum once every sunday and twice on saturdays.

The boy glowered at Charles. It reminded him a little of his boyfriend, though that couldn’t be, could it? Charles knew Erik had two kids from when he had been married but he had yet to meet them. “Puppets can’t talk,” the boy grumbled and Charles caught a exasperate Pietro! from his sister. “It’s all just you. And I know how you’re doing it.”

Greggy turned his head very slowly to Charles. “So, me is not talking and it’s all just you.” Greggy’s voice was full of accusation. Some of the kids in the back snickered.

"Stop that," Pietro grumbled. "You just have your hand inside and make him move like that." He huffed. "Everyone can see your mouth move when he talks, too."

Greggy looked down at Charles’ hand and then up at his face again. “Do you now?” he asked Charles. Charles shrugged, as if he felt uncomfortable under the accusing looks the puppet shot him. “But how’s that possible, when I know so much more about mutations and dinosaurs than he’ll ever know?” Greggy addressed the group. Most of them laughed. And with that, the matter was settled.

At least for the moment.

Charles hadn’t been expecting Erik waiting with the other parents after the guided tour to pick up their kids. Or better, he had, because he’d felt his boyfriend’s mind entering the museum and had watched Pietro close enough to be almost certain that he and Erik were related before he and his sister Wanda ran screaming into Erik’s outstretched arms.

Tied up in a chat with some other parents, Charles watched the little family of three greet. It took him a bit to free himself, but then again, Erik didn’t appear to be in any hurry at all. Charles brushed his mind against Erik’s, just to let him know he was there and received a wave of affection and an open invitation to join them if he liked in return. At his leisure, and when finally, nobody was asking him about birthdays and excursions to the museum anymore, Charles strolled over to Erik and his two children.

"You’re not the one who dropped them off," he said sternly, however he send Erik the impression of a kiss as well. He did not yet know whether or not non-telepathic kisses in front of Wanda and Pietro were even acceptable. "Are you even allowed to pick them up?"

Pietro frowned up at him. “That’s our dad,” he informed Charles as if the latter didn’t know that. “Papa, that’s the guide I told you about, who said the puppet was real!” he added in Erik’s direction in what he must think was a hushed voice.

"So," Charles crouched down so his face was level with Pietro’s. "And does your mom know he’s picking you up?"

The twins nodded dutifully.

_Yes, she does. She had some emergency at her company and can’t look after those two. So it’s daddy’s weekend all of a sudden. Sorry,_  Erik thought at him.  _You weren’t really attempting to stop me from taking them home, were you?_

_I’m supposed to ask, but don’t worry, Magda informed me I would have the questionable pleasure of looking after them if you didn’t show up. She somewhat missed the point that I have to look after them and you no matter what,_ Charles replied. Out loud, he said, “Well, then, I guess I have to believe you. Even though you didn’t believe poor old Greggy earlier.”

"But I know it was just you, with your hand, that made him move," Pietro whined, tugging at Erik’s sleeve. Wanda rolled her eyes at her brother and shot Charles a sympathetic glance. "Daddy, tell him that it’s just him with his hand up his back that made Greggy move and talk!"

Charles raised an eyebrow at Erik. He hadn’t missed the rather explicit thought his boyfriend had had about him sticking his hand up something.  _Not like that!_ he hissed into Erik’s mind but all he got in return was a chuckle.

"So, Greggy is your hand puppet?" Erik asked.

"More of my assistant, really," Charles replied.   
  
"But Pietro just wants to be a spoilsport," Wanda interrupted him. "Just because he figured something out for once. I liked Greggy, he is funny."

"Thanks," Charles smiled at her and she smiled back. He found that he rather liked her already.

With a little sigh, Charles got up again. “I think I kept you too long,” he said. There were almost none of the other parents or children around anymore. “Sorry. I’m sure you have other plans, too.”

Erik just hummed. “There’s some shopping to be done if we’re four instead of just us two tonight,” he mused. “Well, see you at home. I don’t want to keep you from your work either.” And with that, much too Pietro’s obvious horror, Erik kissed Charles good-bye.

"See you at home," Charles replied. Pietro had already fled the scene, with Erik following him. Wanda hesitated for a moment, looking back at Charles. She hugged him around the waist and whispered "See you at home" before she followed her father.

Charles had trouble keeping the smile off his face for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the teachers at the twin's school on strike from noon onwards, it falls to Charles to watch his eventually-to-be stepchildren for an afternoon.

It was about halfway into Charles' lunch break, when his cell buzzed with an incoming message. He opened it with his little finger--thank goodness for touchscreens--the rest of his hands either greasy from or holding a sandwich and pulled up the full text.

"Sos. Teachers on strike." the message read. If it hadn't been from Erik, Charles would have wondered why teachers on strike were his problem. Like this, though, the first question he could think of was _Erik's supposed to have them this week and he's at work until at least five so who'll look after the twins?_ The answer to this question didn't take long to figure out.

And was confirmed by Erik's follow up message "Can I send them your way? You said you were only doing guided tours this afternoon." A few seconds later, another message followed, reading "Wanda likes your museum." And finally "I'm sure Pietro will behave." When Charles didn't answer because he'd rather at least wanted to finish his lunch before reaching a decision. Erik seemed to take his silence as a cue to shift tactics and try bribery next. "I'll cook your favorite food for dinner for the entire next week."

Charles sighed. He picked up a napkin to wipe his hands before he picked up his phone to answer. "Just send them my way." he typed, taking his time only to see if Erik would add more to his already tempting bribe.

“You’re a lifesaver. They’ll be there in about 40mins. Love you. Sorry again.” Erik texted him back. Charles looked up at the clock on the office wall. 40 minutes meant he had about 20 minutes to talk the twins through how they should behave to not get him into trouble and to get them either settled in his office to quietly do their homework or talk to them about how they could “help” him with his tour.

But, first things first, he should go tell his boss about the imminent, incoming double disaster. Not that it should be a problem, but he had the feeling his boss would want a fair warning. After all, technically, it weren’t really his kids, intimate relationship to their father or not.

Charles packed his lunch away, which prompted Moira’s attention. “Everything alright?” she asked between two forks of microwaved leftovers. “You just received more texts than you usually do all week in about ten minutes.”

Charles shrugged. “My eventually-to-be step children need somebody to watch them this afternoon,” he explained. “And apparently, I’m the first to come to Erik’s mind.”

He could act exasperated all he wanted but Moira saw right through him. “Yeah, of course, because you like them,” she smiled. “And because you could never say no to it anyway. What’s up for the afternoon?”

As if she didn’t know. “A high school class who come in as part of their unit on genetics and then the regular 4pm tour for visitors though the special exhibition,” Charles replied. “Maybe I could take them with me to the tour for the big kids, I assume they might like it and I can do a quick lesson about genetics and the x-gene at the end with them. As for the other tour…”

”I could watch them, if you plan on having them do their homework then,” Moira responded as he’d hoped. “It should not be any problem.”

”Thanks,” Charles said with a sincere thankful smile. “And now, I should go warn Dr Pratt.”

”You do that,” Moira waved him off with her fork.

Dr Pratt was unsurprisingly supportive of the idea that Charles would watch two elementary school kids for the afternoon. It helped that news in all media had been complaining about the strike all day and most of yesterday, too. Afterall, it was an emergency, Dr Pratt decided, before he send Charles back to the last minutes of his break.

Charles used the time he still had to clear his desk a bit and locate a second chair he could bring over so the twins could do their homework there, before he slowly sauntered over to the entrance hall to wait for them. He was just glad that Erik trusted his kids enough to find their way over from the station. They had been here a couple of times, mostly with Erik to pick up Charles on weekends, but Charles would still be nervous if they were his own children.

He was fretting for no reason. About right on time, Wanda and Pietro stepped through the door, their backpacks in place and looking slightly tired. With horror, Charles realized that they probably hadn’t even eaten yet. He waved at them to call them over. Wanda waved back with some enthusiasm, unlike her brother. So, Charles was still not entirely forgiven.

”Charles!” Wanda cried before she tackled his waist to wrap her arms around him for a hug. Pietro followed his sister much slower, glowering at Charles all the while. “Don’t mind him,” Wanda whispered. “He got a bad test back and is sulky over it.”

”Okay,” Charles whispered back, glad Pietro’s mood wasn’t entirely his fault. “Do you want to come with me to the back?” he said louder. “I got a tour in a bit, but you can put your backpacks by my desk and then assist me with the tour. If you want to. Or you can stay in the back with my friend Moira and do your homework.”

Charles didn’t even have to peek into their minds to be sure they would much rather go with him and listen to his tour than doing their homework--because that was what they eventually had to do. One look at Wanda’s smiling face as she took his hand was enough. Pietro lurched after them back to the office.

”This is my friend Moira,” Charles introduced her as they entered. Moira gave a small wave. “Moira, this is Wanda and that’s Pietro. Er, you can put your backpacks under my desk here and then...”

”Can we go on the tour with you then?” Wanda asked. She put her backpack neatly under the desk. Pietro just dropped his own next to hers.

Charles nodded. “You can listen like the big kids do and maybe you can even help me with a small part at the end. How does that sound?”

”What part?” Pietro mumbled. He wasn’t even half as excited as his sister.

”Well, the class will be here to learn about genetics,” Charles started, before it occurred to him that they might not remember what the word meant. “You know what genes are?”

”Teeny-tiny text in our bodies that tells it how we’re supposed to look,” Wanda replied.

Charles smiled at her. “About right, very good. Well, I’ll tell the class about that and would you mind if I…” He faltered, catching up on Pietro’s mood. For some reason, it was getting worse with each word Charles’ said. “You know what,” Charles sighed. “Just come along. We’ll have a close look at the big whale model and the jungle diorama, the one with the pretty birds. You liked it the last time you were here, right?”

Wanda nodded, but Pietro was still not too happy. Charles suppressed a sigh. It seemed like this was going to be a long afternoon.

”Pietro,” he said, crouching down in front of the boy. “You can just stay here if you don’t want to come. Moira won’t mind.” _Sorry, dear,_ he sent her only to get a vague sense of _whatever_ back. “Would you rather do this?”

For a moment, Charles was sure Pietro would disagree just to be contrary, but then Pietro nodded. “I’ll stay here,” he mumbled.

This time, Charles sighed out loud. “Okay, good, just… be good, for Moira, okay?”

”I can help you a bit if you want to do your homework and get stuck,” Moira supplied helpfully.

Pietro merely nodded. Charles wished he had more time but a glance at the clock told him that the class he was waiting for would be right there. “Okay, then, we’ll be back in about an hour, alright? If you need anything, feel free to ask Moira,” he told Pietro, feeling as if he was letting somebody down. _Sorry for that,_ Charles told Moira again. _I promise he’s a good kid when he wants to. I owe you._

 _Of course you do,_ she replied mentally, before saying out loud, “Shouldn’t you be going?”

Charles and Wanda arrived at the entrance just when the class was starting to pile in. He made his way over to the teacher to greet her and made sure that what they had discussed on the phone was still what he had to cover.

The tour went over well. It helped that he had Wanda with him, too, because she was willing to ask the questions that were apparently too simple to be asked by high school seniors. Charles then just passed the questions on to the class, but more often than not, he had to explain the answer himself, because none of the students would.

It took a bit longer than an hour for them to get back to the office. If he hadn’t kept mental tabs on Pietro, Charles would have been surprised to find Pietro sitting next to Moira, reading in one of the books she kept on her desk. It at least explained to the shift in quality of his sour mood. He was just frowning down at words he didn’t know now.

The moment Wanda was through the door, she bounced up to her brother to tell him all about the tour for big kids she’d just joined and how much she had helped out. She sounded very proud and so Charles just left them to it. It wasn’t like he hadn’t still work to do. And in about half an hour, he would have to guide the last tour of the day through the special exhibit again.

For the regular tour, Charles left the twins with Moira again, making them promise to do their homework while he was away. Still, he was worrying all the time and therefore kept close tabs on both of them. It was just as well that the exhibition was about to come to an end, so he knew what he was going to say by heart already.

He was just about wrap the tour up, when he felt a spike of shame and regret from Pietro. He could just barely resist taking a closer look then. Wanda, from all he could tell, was alright, so whatever was wrong was just Pietro’s business. If he wanted to share, Charles told himself, he would.

Charles entered the office quietly. He could feel both twins working concentrated on their homework so he was reluctant to disturb them. Wanda was doing what looked like maths, while Pietro was bend over two of his exercise books, quickly copying down sentences from one into the other. Even from a distance, Charles could see the many red marks in the first book.

”Hey there,” he said as he approached them. “What are you doing?” He crouched down next to Wanda, giving Pietro time to hide the test if he didn’t want him to see.

”Maths,” Wanda piped up. “But I’m almost finished. Charles, can you look over it? I asked Moira but she said she didn’t like maths.”

Charles looked up to Moira, who shrugged and replied, “Who does like maths?”

”Moira, you took advanced maths in college!” Charles protested.

”Exactly, that’s why I’m not sure if I can still add and multiply like normal people,” Moira grinned.

”Done!” Wanda then declared and held her book out for Charles’ inspection. He looked over the page carefully, but couldn’t spot any mistakes. “Well done, it’s all correct,” Charles told her as he handed it back.

Suddenly, there was a tug at Charles’ sleeve. He looked down to find Pietro suddenly standing next to him. “Charles?” he whispered, very meekly.

Charles turned and crouched down again to bring his face level with Pietro’s. The boy took it as an invitation to lean forward to whisper in Charles’ ear, “I got a bad mark today at school and… daddy won’t like it. Uhm, could you…?”

”Tell him?” Charles whispered back. He could picture Erik’s reaction just as well as Pietro had done all day.

Pietro nodded.

”Of course,” Charles smiled. “Don’t worry.”

Pietro returned the smile with some reluctance. “I’m almost finished with the correction we should do,” he confided. “Can we stay a little longer?”

Charles nodded. “I still have some things to do myself,” he told them.

 

***

They came home just at the right time. Erik was almost done with dinner, so the twins had only time to put their things away and wash their hands before dinner. Charles set the table while Erik finished the food. Family dinner was something he liked very much, Charles thought, just like every time when they had the twins over. It was just so much livelier. Usually, anyway. Today, it was almost all Wanda when it came to talking. Pietro only sometimes added bits he thought his sister had forgot and got into bickering with her once or twice.

After dinner, the evening quieted down significantly. Both Wanda and Pietro spend the hour until bedtime reading. Pietro had borrowed the book he had been so interested in from Moira, promising her to have Charles give it back as soon as possible. Charles and Erik used the time they still had when noise wouldn’t disturb sleeping children to do some chores, like taking care of the dishes.

Five minutes to bedtime, just when Erik was about to send the twins to go brush their teeth, Pietro ran up to Charles with his text book in hand. “There,” he whispered, making sure his father wasn’t looking. “You promised.”

Charles nodded. “Understood. Do you need a signature?”

Pietro nodded, before he ran off to the bathroom when his father entered the kitchen. Of course, Erik immediately noticed the book in Charles hand. “What’s this?” he asked, deeply suspicious.

”Later,” Charles told him. “I’ll tell you when the twins are tucked into bed.”

Charles knew how much it would irritate Erik, but a promise was a promise and he could endure Erik’s irritation for ten more minutes. It wasn’t like Erik hadn’t already a very good suspicion about the book anyway.

”So,” Erik said, when he flopped down next to Charles on the couch. “Pietro’s essay? Just tell me how disastrous.” He sighed and held out his hand for the book, already summoning a pen with his powers.

”Not too terribly,” Charles lied as he handed book over. “And he did his correction. Properly.”

Erik still cringed when he saw the mark at the bottom of the essay, but signed it anyway. “Well, at least there’s something positive about this,” he said as he put the book down on the couch table.

Charles raised an eyebrow, following Erik’s thoughts before his boyfriend could say something. “You really think so?”

”He’s warming up to you,” Erik grinned. “Well, somewhat, at least. My wrath is scarier than asking you for help. I’d call that a win for now.”

”A win,” Charles echoed. He kissed Erik softly. “With how today went, I wouldn’t be too opposed to watching them every now and then. Or having them around more, you know?”


End file.
